Built in wall air conditioner casing and air conditioner combination



March 14, 1967 H M SIMITH 3,308,634

BUILT IN WALL AIR JONDITIONER CASING AND AIR CONDITIONER COMBINATION Filed Dec. 22, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet l //v VE/VTOR HE RAM/V M. SMITH ATTORNEY BUWM I March 14, 1967 H. M. SMITH 3,308,634

BUILT IN WALL AIR CONDITIONER CASING AND AIR CONDITIONER COMBINATION Filed Dec. 22, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR HERMAN M. SMITH 877M *k /w A r TOR/V5 x United States Patent 3,308,634 BUILT IN WALL AIR CONDITIONER CASING AND AIR CONDITIONER COMBINATION Herman M. Smith, 2948 Forest Hill Blvd.,

West Palm Beach, Fla. 33406 Filed Dec. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 515,606 8 Claims. (Cl. 62263) This invention relates to a built in air conditioner casing and to the combination of an air conditioner and a built in wall casing therefor, and has for an object to provide an air conditioner casing which is permanently built in a wall so as to provide a load bearing member for the wall having a greater load bearing strength than the parts of the wall displaced by the casing, as well as to removably receive and house an air conditioner for operation.

The term air conditioner as herein used includes air cooling units, heat pumps as well as humidifiers and dehumidifiers, or similar units, inasmuch as .all these various units condition the air by either heating or cooling it, adding or subtracting humidity, or the like.

Conventional cooling air conditioners have been conventionally installed in openings made through a wall, but making such openings in a wall is not only expensive, but also weakens the wall, and elaborate precautions must be made to maintain suflicient load bearing strength in the wall, particularly in view of the added weight of the unit as well as the vibration caused by the unit in operation.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a casing, particularly a vertically extending casing, which may be built in a wall, either when the building is initially put up, or at a later date, which will maintain the load in the wall including the weight and vibration of the unit in operation, yet will permit the unit to be readily installed or removed for servicing as needed.

A further object of this invention is to provide an air conditioner casing which is made of a non-corroding material such as concrete, high impact plastic, or other similar material which may be bonded into the wall to form a permanent load bearing part of the wall.

A further object of this invention is to provide an air conditioner casing which may be made in several sizes, either to house a single operating unit, or to house several operating units where large areas inside the wall are to be conditioned.

A further object of this invention is to provide a casing made generally of the same material as the material of the wall, and which will have the same appearance as the wall itself, so far as material is concerned.

A further object of this invention is to provide an air conditioner casing of modular construction which is made in sizes appropriate to the type of wall in which it is to be built in.

In brief, the air conditioner casing of this invention consists of a rectangular box of modular construction with a readily removable and securable cove-r, made of concrete, high impact plastic or other suitable, noncorroding material. The top, side and bottom walls will be bonded into the wall, as by mortar when the box is of concrete, while an inside wall and an outside wall will have suitable openings for the air travel, the outside wall being provided with one opening for the condenser coil heat exchange air to enter and leave, while the inside wall will have two openings, one adjacent the top end, for the conditioned air to be discharged into the room toward the ceiling, and the other extending from about the mid area to the lower end, to draw in air from the lower part of the room. The casing will extend vertically, be approximately six feet eight inches in height, about sixteen inches wide and about nine or ten inches deep, and will ice accommodate an appropriate sized operating unit, somewhat similar to the easement window type of cooling air conditioner conventionally in use. In addition, top, side and bottom walls will be lined with a suitable cushioning sound and vibration absorbing insulation, and the opening will be of a size to receive and house the unit, which may be held in position by the cover when removably secured in position. Obviously, while the inside wall will preferably be the cover, under certain circumstances, the outside wall may be made as the cover, particularly when the outside is readily accessible for installing and servicing the operating unit. Further, the non-removable wall may have an extending flange to overlap the building wall. It may be made with a single vertically extending compartment, for housing a single operating unit up to one horse power in size, and may be made with two or three vertically extending compartments, each vertically extending compartment being also about sixteen inches in width, to thus house several vertically extending units and provide more flexibility in cooperation with a large inside area to be air conditioned. The operating unit, in a plastic non-corroding shell, provides .a vertical partition between the inside and outside walls of the casing, deflecting the heat exchange air outwardly, and the conditioned air inwardly and upwardly. Permanent or removable grills may be provided in the air openings in both the inside and outside walls of the casing.

In addition, to further strengthen the load bearing ability of the casing of this invention, the vertically extending side walls may be tapered in cross section, being thickest at the end which joins the integrally secured front or back wall, the thinner edge being on the side where the removably secured wall is attached.

By vertically separating the intake and discharge areas as 'far as possible, short cycling of conditioned air back into the unit is minimized, and draft conditions caused by too low discharge of conditioned air is avoided, and temperature difference between the ceiling and the floors is reduced to a minimum, and cold floors, when using the heating cycle of heat pumps, are no longer possible.

With the above and related objects in view, this invention consists in the details of construction and combination of parts, as will be more fully understood from the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective exploded view of the invention.

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the invention as it appears in a room, on a smaller scale.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view, on a larger scale, on line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an elevational view outside view of a modified form for housing a multiplicity of units.

FIG. 5 is a horizontal sectional view through another modified form of easing, on a large scale.

In the drawing, like numbers refer to like parts, and for purposes of explication, marshalled below are the numbered parts of the improved built in wall air conditioner casing, and air conditioner combination:

10built in wall air conditioner casing 12concrete wall block 14casing top wall 16side walls of 10 18-bottom wall of 10 20outside wall of 10 21-outside air opening in 20 22flange on 20 24condenser coils 26-air conditioner unit 27-plastic shell of 26 28layer of insulation 30cover or inside wall 3 32stud bolts 34sleeved aperture in 30 36threaded recess or grommet in 10 38room air entrance 40louvered slats in 38 42-conditioned air discharge top of 30 44louvered slats in 42 46upwardly directed louvered slats in 26 48evaporator fan 50-partition in 26 52evaporator coils S t-condenser fan 56slats in 21 58compressor 60-multicompartment casing 62individual compartments in 60 64vertical partitions 70-casing shown in FIG. 5 72tapered side walls of 70 74-thin edge of 72 76thick edge of 72 78-integrally secured wall of 76 80-heat exchange air opening in outside wall 78 82insulation layer in 70 There is shown at the built in wall air conditioner casing 10 of this invention shown as installed in a concrete block wall 12, to which it is bonded by mortar in the usual manner, the casing 10 being made of concrete, cement, high impact plastic, or other suitable non-corroding material-rustable metal, such as iron, is particularly avoided in making the casing 10. As shown, the casing 10 consists of a top wall 14, two spaced apart vertically extending side walls 16 and a bottom wall 18 all integral- 1y formed and secured together. Also integrally formed with and secured to the top, side and bottom walls is the outside wall 20, which may be provided with a flange 22 extending somewhat beyond the top, side and bottom Walls, as shown.

The outside wall 20 is provided with an outside heat transfer air opening 21 as shown, extending from somewhat below the mid area to substantially above the bottom end, to provide access to the condenser coils 24 of a vertically extending air conditioner unit 26 to be removably housed within the casing 10. Lining the inside surface of the walls is a layer 28 of insulation of suitable cushioning, sound absorbing material within which the unit 26 will fit snugly, and be held therein by means of the casing cover or inside air wall 30 removably secured by stud bolts 32 extending through apertures 34 in the wall 30 and threaded into threaded recesses or grommets 36 of brass or other suitable material embedded in the front edges of the top, side and bottom walls of the casing 12.

Any other suitable means of securing the cover may be used, either inside or outside.

A room air entrance 38 in the cover or insidewall 30 extends from about the mid area to adjacent the bottom end, and may be provided with louvered slats 40 directed inwardly and upwardly, and a conditioned air discharge open end adjacent the top end of wall 30 may be provided with outwardly directed louvered slats 44 to direct the conditioned air to both sides of the casing 10, the air being also directed upwardly by the fact that louvers 46 from unit 26 are directed upwardly as shown in FIG. 1.

The air conditioner unit 26, preferably in a plastic shell 27, also includes the usual evaporator fan 48 directing the conditioned air through the louver slats 46 after drawing it from the room through slats 40 up against partition 50 and through the evaporating, cooling coils 52. The fan 48 is powerful enough to permit attachment of simple ducting to rooms not immediately adjacent to the unit. The partition 50 separates the room air from the heat exchanging outside air discharged outside by the condenser fan 54 after being drawn through the louvered slats 56 in outside wall opening 21 over the condenser coils 24,

a compressor 58 being provided at the bottom of the unit 26. Obviously, while the air conditioner unit 26 illustrated is that of the cooling type, a heat pump, a humidifier, a dehumidifier or other type of air conditioner of a size to fit within the casing 10 may be used. In this case, slats 56 are omitted where the condenser fan 54 extends through the outside wall opening 21. The location of coils and compressor within the plastic shell 27 may 0bviously change with the type of cycle used, i.e. cooling, heat pump, dehumidifier, and humidifier.

Cooling units 26 up to a size of one horsepower may be housed in a single compartment casing 10 as shown, but where this is not sufiicient, a multicompartment casing 60 is used, the individual compartments 62 being provided by the presence of intermediate vertical partitions 64 providing compartments each of the same size as that of the single compartment in the single casing 10. Except for the increased overall width, the construction of the casing 60 is the same as that of casing 10, the height and depth being the same, and the width of each compartment 62 being the same as the width of the single compartment in casing 10. The units in casing 60 may be so connected to operate singly or in combination in accordance with the needs of the area being served.

While the vertically extending side walls 16 may be of uniform thickness, they are preferably tapered in thickness as shown in FIG. 5, so as to increase the load bearing strength of the casing 70. In the casing 70, the vertically extending side walls '72 are tapered from their thin edge 74, to which edge 74 the removable wall or cover is detachably secured to their thickened edge 76 which is integrally secured to the outside wall 78 having its outside heat exchange air entrance 80. A similar insulation layer of material 82 is likewise provided in this form, and the outside dimensions are the same as in the first described form at 10. Obviously, however, the dimensions of the conditioning unit 26 must be such as to readily removably fit and be housed within this casing 76.

Although this invention has been described in considerable detail, such description is intended as being illustrative rather than limiting, since the invention may be variously embodied, and the scope of the invention is to be determined as claimed.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, what is claimed is:

1. A built in wall air conditioner casing comprising a pair of comparatively long vertically extending spaced apart parallel rectangular side walls, a comparatively short top wall and a comparatively short bottom wall connecting said side walls together, an outside wall secured to said top, side and bottom Walls, said outside wall having an outside air opening therethrough, and an inside wall also secured to said top, side and bottom walls, said inside wall having an inside air entrance opening extending from about its mid area to adjacent its bottom end and thus adjacent the floor of the room in which it extends, and an air discharge opening adjacent its top end and thus adjacent the room ceiling, said casing being arranged to removably receive and house an air conditioner, said casing being integrally built into a building wall and providing a load bearing member greater than the load bearing strength of the building wall material displaced thereby.

2. The casing of claim 1, and insulation lining on the inner surface of said walls of said casing.

3. The casing of claim 1, said outside wall having a flange extending beyond said top, side and bottom walls.

4. The casing of claim 1, and partition wall means spaced between said side walls providing a multicompartment casing.

5. The casing of claim 1, said outside wall being integrally secured to said top, side and bottom walls, said inside wall being detachably secured to said top,v side and bottom walls. 7

6. The casing of claim 1, said side walls being tapered horizontally, the thick edge of said tapered side wall having said integrally secured wall integrally secured thereto.

7. The casing of claim 3, said flange being integrally secured to the Wall, said outside Wall being integrally secured to said top, side and bottom Walls, said inside wall being detachably secured to said top, side and bottom walls.

8. The casing of claim 7, in combination with an air conditioner housed therewithin, said air conditioner having its condenser coils exposed to said outside air entrance, a partition in said air conditioner on the inside air entrance side of said condenser coils deflecting inside air from said inside air entrance to flow over evaporator coils References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1965 Laing 62-263 11/1965 Brownstein 52213 References Cited by the Applicant UNITED STATES PATENTS thereof and then out the upper inside air discharge 15 WILLIAM J. WYE, Primary Examiner-f opening. 

1. A BUILT IN WALL AIR CONDITIONER CASING COMPRISING A PAIR OF COMPARATIVELY LONG VERTICALLY EXTENDING SPACED APART PARALLEL RECTANGULAR SIDE WALLS, A COMPARATIVELY SHORT TOP WALL AND A COMPARATIVELY SHORT BOTTOM WALL CONNECTING SAID SIDE WALLS TOGETHER, AN OUTSIDE WALL SECURED TO SAID TOP, SIDE AND BOTTOM WALLS, SAID OUTSIDE WALL HAVING AN OUTSIDE AIR OPENING THERETHROUGH, AND AN INSIDE WALL ALSO SECURED TO SAID TOP, SIDE AND BOTTOM WALLS, SAID INSIDE WALL HAVING AN INSIDE AIR ENTRANCE OPENING EXTENDING FROM ABOUT ITS MID AREA TO ADJACENT ITS BOTTOM END AND THUS ADJACENT THE FLOOR OF THE ROOM IN WHICH IT EXTENDS, AND AN AIR DISCHARGE OPENING ADJACENT ITS TOP END AND THUS ADJACENT THE ROOM CEILING, SAID CASING BEING ARRANGED TO REMOVABLY RECEIVE AND HOUSE AN AIR CONDITIONER, SAID CASING BEING INTEGRALLY BUILT INTO A BUILDING WALL AND PROVIDING A LOAD BEARING MEMBER GREATER THAN THE LOAD BEARING STRENGTH OF THE BUILDING WALL MATERIAL DISPLACED THEREBY. 